


Starburst

by TheAllAmericanGirl



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Aliens, M/M, RusAme, RusAmeBigBang, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-02 06:40:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16299995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAllAmericanGirl/pseuds/TheAllAmericanGirl
Summary: Space was never meant to be an easy task- Ivan knew it would be a one-trip mission. He was supposed to land on Galaxy 618KZL and complete his mission. If lucky, he would live his final days in blissful solitude. Instead, his ship crashes on a planet and he is befriended by Alfred, one of the locals. Alfred helps hide Ivan from the rest of the population, and maybe they fall a little in love.





	Starburst

The small ship flew against an inky black sky. Nothing could be seen for miles, having past the last star a few light-years ago. Not that the sole inhabitant of the space craft minded; he has been in hyper-sleep ever since he left Earth. The ship, lovingly named “Koshka”, was zooming through space at faster-than the speed of light in something the scientists on Earth liked to call “warp-drive”. He would, frankly, be dead from either the force or from going stark-on mad at seeing such an expanse of nothing. No, it is best he doesn’t wake up until he reaches his assigned destination: Galaxy 618KZL, about 8.51 light-years away from Earth. The cosmonaut on board, one Ivan Braginsky from Russia, had long since left the Milky Way Solar System, passing even the Andromeda Galaxy on his way to small, tiny Galaxy 618KZL. 

 

If he were awake, he would realize he is nearly half-way done with his journey at a whopping 5.78 light-years from Earth, having just passed the nearest star to Earth, Proxima Centauri, within the last two light-years. Apparently, there’s a habitable planet near that one, but another cosmonaut had received that as their mission. Braginsky, being new to the force, was given a small, virtually unheard-of galaxy as his mission. He didn’t mind. 

 

It had always been a dream of Ivan’s to be a cosmonaut and explore other galaxies; he would feel like the heroes in the comics his oldest sister would read to him growing-up. In this, he felt that he would make her proud, wherever she may lie now. Ivan has no family anymore; they were long gone even before he joined the program. It was one of the primary reasons he had signed up to be in the Roscosmos’ “Final Frontier” program in the first place. Ivan had nothing left on Earth; his family had long since been dead and nothing on the planet could excite him anymore. He figured he should very well do something with his life and attempt to be one of the many cosmonauts to find the next planet humans can colonize. 

 

Earth had seen better days and any initiatives to form colonies on the Moon or Mars had failed due to the lack of it being in a habitable zone like Earth. The Andromeda Galaxy had no planet in the perfect place either, prompting engineers to build machines like Koshka that could travel impossibly fast and sustain life until reaching their destinations thousands of light-years away. And though the ships are well-built with auto-pilot technologies, it’s a potential one-way trip for the cosmonauts. Their job is to make it to the habitable zone of their given galaxies, take note of the environment and any potential life-forces, and to report back to Earth. Based off the information, the program will decide if the cosmonaut should return (if their ship is even in condition to return after entering the ozone) or to stay and wait for a new fleet of members to arrive and begin colonizing.

 

Before Ivan was put into hyper-sleep, no-one had been sent back and no fleets had been sent to join a cosmonaut. That was fine by him; he just hoped Galaxy 618KZL does have a habitable planet and he can live out his days in peace.

 

Until his destination, however, he’s just happy to continue dreaming about growing up with his sisters and letting Koshka glide through space. 

 

__________

 

“And a little bit more there… Perfect!” Alfred claps his hands in joy, watching as the test-tube in front of him glows vibrant orange and fizzes over. He dips his finger into the fizzing liquid and pops it into his mouth, sucking. He proceeds to write down his results in a notebook littered with random doodles and equations: 

 

_Fizta: The tasty liquid created in last-week’s experiment now has a color to coincide with the flavor! :D_

 

He smiles at his concoction before pouring it into his empty metal water container and beginning to clean up. Alfred is thankful that he didn’t create as big of a mess as last time, lest he be yelled at by his supervisor again. 

 

Alfred isn’t a scientist or a flavor chemist; no, he’s a ranger at the Tharian Institute of Nature, TIN for short. He’s _supposed_ to be writing up reports on soil erosion and water levels, but lately he’s been staying at the office late and sneaking into the labs to conduct mini-experiments like this one. So far, he’s only been caught once, and that’s because he accidentally caused the microwave in the staff kitchen to explode.

 

He’d heard hell from his brother for that one. Since then, Alfred’s been mindful to avoid the microwave in all experiments and only uses it to heat-up his late-night snacks. Fitza, this orange, tasty drink Alfred has created, is a mixture of chemicals he found in the lab. He’s not sure if it’s entirely safe to drink, but he hasn’t died yet, so he figures he can keep drinking it until he feels funny. He does find that is causes him to burp excessively, but he’s listed it as a non-deadly side effect. 

 

After adding a few more details to his notebook and sketching a quick picture of the result next to it (to be filled in with color once he’s home!), he closes his book and gathers the test tubes to take to the sink. Once he finishes cleaning them, he puts them back as he found them and locks up the office building. TIN is in the middle of Tharian’s largest wilderness preserve so the staff can have accurate readings of the landscape. It was a beautiful place to work at the start, but now Alfred typically ignores the scenery, so he can start his commute back. 

 

Tonight, though, Alfred stayed later than he normally does, all signs of twilight gone and leaving only a black sky with twinkling stars. “It’s already late, might as well enjoy the view,” He mumbles to himself, glancing up at the moons, all in their own phases as they rotate at different rates around the planet. 

 

He is just about to move back to his car when a shift in the sky catches his attention. Hopeful that it might be a shooting star, Alfred closes his eyes and make a wish, something that had been taught to him since he was a little boy. “I wish… I wish for an adventure; to not be stuck behind an office desk any longer and to start living my life.” 

 

When he opens his eyes, all the stars are still again. Alfred sighs wistfully, knowing he shouldn’t believe in childhood lies, but it’s still fun to indulge. Just then, the sky shifts again as another beam of light shoots across the sky. Alfred thinks it may be another shooting star, but this one doesn’t disappear. It keeps coming, moving down and growing brighter. It comes closer, almost as it it’s heading straight for Alfred, but he can’t move from his spot—his feet are stuck to the ground. He stares dumbly at it until, at last, the star zooms over his head and crashes into a thicket of forest behind the TIN building. 

 

That made Alfred spring into action: he drops his workbag and runs towards the TIN building. Inside, he grabs a torch a ranger pack—filled to the brim with necessities like first-aid. He doesn’t know what he’s about to encounter, but Alfred, though seemingly goofy with messing around with unknown chemicals and drinking the products, he does like to go into things with educated guesses. A _star_ had just fallen from the sky—who knows what he could encounter? He’s read stories of creatures from out-of-this-world when he was a child. Like the shooting star, he can’t help but believe in the truth behind the tales. There could be monsters invading the planet as he’s inside the building! He thinks he should radio Matthew and warn him to run away, but Alfred decides to investigate first. With a big inhale, he leaves the safety of the TIN building and walks into the forest, the weak light of the torch the only thing illuminating his way as the underbrush becomes thicker. 

 

He feels rather than sees the crash first after a half hour of walking: the air becomes hot and thick with smoke. Briefly, Alfred worries about a forest fire starting, but the thought leaves his head as he finally stumbles upon the actual wreckage. Alfred cautiously approaches the star, grateful to see that it’s relatively in-tact. “No monsters have been able to escape yet, then,” He whispers to himself, unable to keep his thoughts inside his head. He continues walking towards it, taking in its sleek black appearance. To Alfred, it doesn’t look to be a star, with weird angles and a sleek, metal-looking exterior. He pictures stars to be rockier, but, again, this is his first star, so who is he to judge? 

 

He pulls his shirt over his nose, the fumes making it difficult to breathe. He wonders if he should’ve grabbed a gas-mask—the stardust could be toxic. “Too late now. This will have to be a sacrifice made for science!” Alfred wheezes and continues to explore the exterior. Once he rounds to the other side, he realizes the star isn’t completely intact: a large chunk is missing, possibly flew miles away on impact, and it exposes a hollow interior. Alfred’s starting to think that, maybe, this isn’t a star at all. His stomach churns, a bit frightened as other thoughts drift into his head—an _outsider_. Tharians believe they are the only life source in their galaxy. Not just the single intelligence living beings, but the _only_ living beings. They don’t even have a space program of any source; why should they bother, if there’s nothing out there, and their own planet is beautiful enough? 

 

Alfred, having been born with a naturally inquisitive mind, had always believed the conspiracy theorists who had proclaimed the opposite: space is filled with other galaxies, just like their own! There is other life, ones that may be smarter than Tharians! Those people are regarded as crazy in the public’s eye and discredited. That’s why Alfred tries to keep his experiments and beliefs a secret, it’s just safer that way.

He wonders how he’ll keep this a secret. He walks into the belly of the “star”, moving the flashlight around as he does so. Panels are loose in the floor and ceiling, exposing wires. Luckily, nothing is sparking, which prompts Alfred to keep moving further inside. He guesses he’s in a control room of sorts; there’s a shattered monitor and a smashed control panel. It’s a relatively small room and he searches it with one quick sweep before heading to the right, where a door is knocked off its hinges. Alfred pushes it aside, so he has access to the room it was supposed to be guarding. This one is even smaller than the last, the only thing in it is a large, near coffin-like box. Alfred slides up next to it, pointing his flashlight down—

 

“Oh, jeez!” He jumps back, nearly dropping the flashlight to the floor in his fright. 

 

Alfred breathes and regains his confidence, approaching the box once more. The top of it is completely see-through, covered in a durable glass of sorts. Alfred shines the flashlight through the glass once more, this time prepared for what he sees. A person lays inside, appearing to be a Tharian male. Alfred wonders if someone is pulling a prank on him and examines the specimen in the box. 

 

Alfred examines its face: large, round nose, thin lips, very, very pale skin. Alfred raises the flashlight to the hair line but doesn’t see any antenna sticking out—ah, so someone isn’t playing a prank on him. Alfred doesn’t know whether he is more terrified or a bit excited at this prospect. He continues to move the flashlight down the body, noting two arms with hands like Alfred’s own. He can’t see if the creature has a similar torso or feet, as it’s wearing a silver full-body suit. Alfred wonders if the clothes are common on the species’ planet—if so, its planet’s fashion sense must be terrible. Alfred finds the silver to be very unflattering. 

 

He shakes his head and lets out a soft giggle. He finds an alien and he’s thinking of its fashion sense? He can’t even tell if its dead or simply sleeping behind the glass. It looks peaceful, with its eyes closed and impassive face, but that’s usually what is said for the dead, too. Alfred looks for a way to open the box but sees none. He sighs and opens the ranger pack, pulling out a small hammer that is normally used to fix up the fences containing the forest. He swings his arm back and plunges the hammer through the glass. The first smash cracks it and the second sends the glass tumbling inward. 

 

The species inside the glass takes in a deep inhale and opens its eyes. 

 

\---

 

Ivan stares at the alien seated across the table from him. After Ivan had woken up, the alien had dragged him to a building not to far from his crash-site. Ivan realized right away that he wasn’t at his target location—Koshka would have landed safely and Ivan would have woken up refreshed as the sleeping gas would slowly leave his chamber and let him wake naturally. Instead, a rash alien had forced him awake. 

 

The extraterrestrial looks excited, non-threatening. Ivan had almost guessed he was still on Earth, as the alien’s appearance was deceptively human, until Ivan’s eyes landed on the antenna protruding from its head. Now, Ivan can’t stop watching it—it’s like an extension of the creature’s emotions. When the alien smiles and speaks, the antenna shoots straight into the air. When it looks confused, it curls like a question mark. It is odd, but very entertaining to watch. 

 

Finally, Ivan tears his eyes away to look around the room they’re in. The room seems to be an office lounge. It has what Ivan thinks are inspirational posters on the wall: pictures of nature and what he supposes are quotes or motivational phrases, but he can’t make out the language. It looks like International Morse Code, but squiggly and almost random-looking. 

 

The alien follows his eyes and smiles, “Oh, do you speak Tharian?” 

 

They hadn’t tried to talk before, the alien moreso dragging Ivan into this building without another word. Still sleep-dazed, he hadn’t tried to put up a fight. However, now more aware, Ivan is surprised to find that the alien is speaking what sounds like American English. Ivan’s English is rusty at best, especially because his mind is still fuzzy, but at least he can make out the words. “Uh,” He thinks best how to reply, “No, but I speak English?”

 

The alien lights up and says, “English?” The alien looks suspicious, its antenna bending at a perfect ninety-degree angle. “Sounds like you’re speaking Tharian but with an accent.” He gasps, “This _is_ a prank! Did Gilbert put you up to this? How did he hide your antenna?” 

 

Ivan shakes his head, “Nyet,” He pauses, again thinking of the words, “I do not have an antenna, nor do I know Gilbert,” His English improves as he forces himself to think and respond in it.” He ponders if he should say he’s from Earth, but his thoughts are pushed aside as, suddenly, the alien’s hands are running through his hair. 

 

“I don’t believe you!” It says, pinching and pulling. 

 

Ivan grimaces and smacks its hands away, “Let me explain myself.” And, so, Ivan tells his story, sharing only the necessities, like Earth and his mission to Galaxy 618KZL. “And now I need to fix my ship and continue on my mission… Unless, is this Galaxy 618KZL?” He asks when he’s done with his tale, hopeful that, perhaps, maybe the entry had just gone haywire. 

 

The alien looks confused, “Nope, not Galaxy 618KZL. Thare—that’s where you are right now—is in the Starburst Galaxy! But- but the fact that there _are_ other galaxies is so cool!” The alien, gosh, he looks so young and eager, smiles brightly at Ivan, “I’m Alfred.” 

 

“And I need to fix my ship and get to my actual destination.” Ivan stands, ignoring the hurt expression on Alfred’s face. 

 

“With what materials?” Alfred says, standing up as well, “I searched your ship—I didn’t find any tools and there’s a huge part missing! Besides, soon the Star will go up and theople will start coming into this building.” Alfred looks almost sneaky now, his antenna quivering, “A lot of theople on Thare don’t believe in extratharestrials, so I don’t know how they’d react to seeing you. At least let me take you home and try to disguise you—like in the comics!” 

 

Alfred is practically buzzing in anticipation and Ivan must admit the alien-boy has a point; Ivan doesn’t know this planet, he noticed the large hole in Koshka, and if Alfred had wanted to harm it at this point, Ivan supposes he would’ve done so. 

 

This leads Alfred to, again, drag Ivan to what the alien had called his car, but Ivan had never seen a car like this. It’s like a semi-circle: flat on the bottom and circular everywhere else. It’s made completely of a glass-like substance and the bottom a shiny metal. Alfred puts his hand on it and it zooms to life, lifting a few inches off the ground. 

 

Ivan’s jaw nearly drops, “It’s a hover car?”

 

Alfred looks at him funny, “Uh, what other kind of cars are there?” 

 

The top of the car pops up and Alfred slides in behind a panel decorated with buttons. Ivan, not given any instructions, slides in next to Alfred in the empty space. He watches as Alfred pushes some buttons and the car starts driving forward smoothly over the terrain. There’s no road, at least not any that Ivan can see over the vehicle’s lights. It just goes over everything: dirt, rocks, grass, even small shrubs. It nicely avoids trees and walls. 

 

After a while of driving in the wilderness, civilization appears, being marked by a few lone buildings. They’re driving too fast and it’s too dark for Ivan to really see them, but soon enough they pull up to a building. A porch light is lit, letting Ivan see that it appears to be a home like on Earth: attached to the ground, square and with a paneled exterior. There’re stairs leading up to the second level, letting Ivan believe it’s a split-housing situation. 

 

“Nice digs, huh?” The alien speaks, looking over at Ivan with a smug grin, “And I have the top half, which is even cooler! I had to _beg_ Mattie for it, but I still got it in the end.”

 

Ivan quirks an eyebrow, “Mattie?”

 

“My brother!” Alfred says, “Which reminds me—we have to be quiet, yeah? Can’t alert him of your presence!” 

 

Ivan nods and follows Alfred out of the car, which had lowered itself to the ground once turned off. However, as soon as his feet touch the ground, the door to the lower-level opens, and, once his eyes adjust to the shock of light emitting from the house, he sees an Alfred look-alike standing in the doorway.

 

“Alfred! Where have you been?” The clone—Mattie, Alfred’s apparent _twin_ brother—calls.

 

Alfred sighs, but stays hidden in the shadows with Ivan. When he speaks, he sounds annoyed, “Did you wait up for me? I told you not to do that anymore.”

 

“Don’t be a jerk, I was only worried—” He goes quiet and stares at Ivan, “Who is this?” Mattie looks back to Alfred, half-curious, half-worried.

 

Alfred, fast as lighting, replies, “My new lover, Marvin!” He grabs Ivan’s hand and, mindful to stay out of the light, starts to walk towards the stairs to the upstairs. “If you’ll excuse us, we’re gonna go do things!”

 

They race up the stairs, ignoring Mattie’s shocked reply and, after some finagling with the key on Alfred’s part, make it safely inside.

 

Alfred turns a light on and faces Ivan. “I don’t think he noticed that you don’t have an antenna,” He says and points to his own, “We’re in the clear.”

 

Ivan hums, a bit amused at what just went down now that he knows he’s safe, “Marvin, hm? Have you used that excuse before?”

 

Alfred blushes and his antenna quivers as he replies, “Well, no, but Matt’ll be too awkward to question it,” He pauses, antenna straightening up, “And you never told me your name, so either tell me now or you’ll be Marvin forever!” 

 

Ivan shakes his head but is surprised to find himself smiling. Alfred certainly is one-of-a-kind. 

 

“My name is Ivan.”

 

\---

 

The night had gone by uneventfully, with Ivan hardly sleeping on the lumpy couch in the tiny living room. Alfred had gone into his room to sleep for a few hours before he had to go back to work. In the morning, Alfred promised Ivan that he would be back right away after work. If nobody notices the ship throughout the day, Alfred would take Ivan to it, so they could evaluate what to do with it—either (hopefully) move its location to some place more discreet or hope for the best and work on it in the forest.

 

Until then, Ivan is to stay in the apartment. 

 

Unable to get any more shut-eye after Alfred leaves, Ivan changes into clothes borrows from Alfred—apparently the largest pair he owns, yet the shirt sleeves still stop before his wrists and the pants above the ankle—and looks around the apartment. It’s decently sized, with a living room and kitchen combo with an attached bathroom and bedroom. It looks like every surface is covered in what Ivan guesses are scientific and mathematic journals and textbooks, if the covers are anything to go by, random pieces of paper with notes and equations, or test tubes and weird concoctions. Ivan thinks he may have walked right into the hands of a mad scientist. 

 

Ivan is amazed everything seems so human-like. Ivan thinks that maybe when Koshka is fixed, he can tell the program about Starburst and Thare instead of going to his assigned, far-away galaxy. That is, if this place ends up being as safe as it seems. 

 

Not even before midday, Ivan finds himself bored, having explored every inch of the kitchen and living room. He thinks about snooping through Alfred’s bedroom, just to make sure he really isn’t a mad scientist (and, he pauses to think when has he _ever_ had such a crazy thought? This bizarre alien is rubbing off on him already), but that goes against his morals, so he tries to decipher the Tharian alphabet. 

 

He falls asleep before he can figure out what letter _-.,,-~~_ is. 

 

\--- 

 

Ivan wakes up to Alfred poking his face, the alien looking extremely pleased with himself and his antenna formed into a curly-q. “What… What time is it?” Ivan mumbles and rubs sleep out of his eyes. The textbook he was using as a guideline for the alphabet is still open on his lap.

 

“Time for you to wake up, it’s past six!” Alfred exclaims, still smiling, “Nobody saw the ship today. I went ahead and rented a trailer cart, too, in case we can move your ship. We’d have to bring it back here, but I think I can convince my brother that this is just one big crazy science experiment.”

 

Ivan doesn’t think that would work, but he stays silent and just nods along with what Alfred is saying. He stands and stretches out, not missing the way Alfred stares at him. “What?” He decides to ask, a tad nervous as his fears of becoming one of Alfred’s experiments surfaces. It’ll be good to work on his ship soon. 

 

Alfred blushes and looks sheepish at being caught, “Nothing, I’m just glad my clothes seem to fit you alright.” 

 

Ivan doesn’t mention that they don’t, because he knows Alfred is lying. Instead, he says, “Let’s get going. I need to examine my ship while it’s still light out.”

 

Alfred agrees, and they head out, thankfully avoiding Mattie and getting to TIN long past any late-working employees. They’re able to drive the hover car and trailer through a majority of the woods, stopping only a few feet from where the wreckage took place. Ivan knows that Koshka is a light piece of equipment, thanks to the new combination of metals created, and the two of them may be able to push her to the trailer. It’ll leave a questionable mark in the dirt, but that’s the least of Ivan’s problems.

 

Ivan gasps when he sees his ship; she’s in worse condition than he had thought, with the huge hole in her side and many of the panels are smashed. He inspects her inner wiring system and shakes his head, “This is not looking good. Koshka’s left satellite is missing and most of the control systems are down. It will take a while to fix, even with your help,” He continues, “It will be best if we move her back to your apartment.”

 

“Koshka?” Alfred questions, looking at the ship curiously, antenna curled into a question mark.

 

“Yes, Koshka. When both of her satellites are on, she almost looks like a cat, an Earth-animal. So, I call her Koshka. It’s cat in Russian, the language I speak on Earth.” Ivan explains, already moving to the back to begin pushing her through the forest.

 

Alfred looks curiously at the ship, “It doesn’t look like a cat to me, but, we don’t have anything called ‘cats’ here. You’ll have to tell me about them!” He explains and joins Ivan in placing his hands on the smooth metal. The alien speaks, “If there’s any sunlight after this, we should try to look for the missing piece.”

 

Ivan agrees, and they begin to push.

**Author's Note:**

> This is part one my contribution for the RusAme Big Bang on Tumblr! (https://rusame-bigbang.tumblr.com/)  
> I can be found on Tumblr here: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/theallamericangirl  
> I will post a link to the artist's page I matched with when they finish their piece (so, probably in part two!).  
> I had so much fun writing this! Enjoy.


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